R179 Rupert Graves on his sexuality...

[quote]"But it's only when your fame dwindles that you start appreciating the expectations other people have. They get angry with you for not sustaining the image they had of you." Which was? "Well, I did Maurice and I did a couple of gay plays and I think it was because when I was young I was pretty and I was a pin-up for a lot of gay people. It's interesting when you're in your thirties and you're not the same pretty boy that you were when you were 21. I think people's anger at themselves getting older is projected on to you because you become a symbol of that.

[quote]"I'm a middle-aged man now. I mean, someone, not working on the show but around the show, said something to me the other day. And I just said, 'Well, that might be upsetting to you, but it doesn't upset me. Just because you don't want to f*** me any more, it doesn't upset me.'"

[quote]And homosexuality is not his thing? "I've swung between two per cent and 38 per cent gayness, I think, something like that, in my life."

[quote]Has he ever had a gay relationship? "Um, yes, one. I realised I wasn't gay because the only way I could really enjoy it was to close my eyes and imagine a woman. But I had issues to sort out and I felt like experiencing stuff."

[quote]He was a secret heterosexual? "It's true. I was a closet straight. I think I wanted to be gay because I thought it was arty and interesting. And also I was phenomenally shy with girls."

[quote]He explains that as a teenager he was dirty and spotty. Given that the prettiness of his twenties sent out the wrong signals to men, I suspect he is happiest looking the way he does now, which is still young.

[quote]"I just think the older I get, actually, the better I feel. It's given me the strength to say, 'If I get older and you don't like me any more, f*** you!' I'm kind of happy with that. Much more happy, much less vulnerable. As a young actor I felt like prey because I didn't know the business. I have much more confidence to be obnoxious now. The choice of being obnoxious, or not, is a lovely gift and it only comes with age."